"실무자 2명이 임의 조작"..이번이 처음일까? / SBS 모닝와이드 1부

Anchor The fact that evidence suggesting two working-level employees manipulated voter turnout was discovered but remained hidden until the investigation began is a serious problem in itself. If the system failed to catch this, the organization must be overhauled; if there was any other intervention, it must be revealed through an investigation. Reporter Jeon Yeon-nam reports. Reporter ['SBS 2026 People's Choice' Election Broadcast (October 3): The purple graph at the bottom shows the voter turnout for today's local elections.] On election day, the National Election Commission (NEC) compiles and announces voter turnout in one-hour increments from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. First, an official managing a polling station tallies the number of voters by time slot and reports it to the Eup, Myeon, or Dong committee. Subsequently, the Eup, Myeon, or Dong committee inputs the voter count into the election management system. Once the voter status is reported to the Gu, Si, or Gun committees and the Central Election Commission, the hourly voter turnout is then disclosed to the voters. If there were errors in entering the number of voters during this process, they must have been corrected after obtaining approval from a superior; however, it has been revealed that two individuals—an employee from the Gyeonggi Provincial Election Commission and another from the National Election Commission—arbitrarily manipulated the voter turnout figures. Criticism is pouring in against the National Election Commission regarding its disarray over internal controls, given that voter turnout—critical information influencing voters' decisions on election day—was easily distorted by two working-level employees and publicly announced to the entire nation. It is highly likely that the circumstances of the employees manipulating the numbers would never have been revealed had it not been for the Joint Investigation Headquarters' investigation. The Joint Investigation Headquarters' future investigation is expected to focus on whether there was additional statistical manipulation and whether there was organized intervention at the level of the National Election Commission. There are also predictions that if tacit approval or intervention by higher-ups regarding the employees' manipulation of numbers is revealed, or if similar manipulation is confirmed in previous elections, the investigation could expand to cover voter turnout statistics across all past elections. (Video Coverage: Lee Sang-hak, Kang Si-woo; Video Editing: Ahn Yeo-jin) #SBSNews #News #Realtime Copyright Ⓒ SBS. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution, and use for AI learning are prohibited.